NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Opening conference play on the road against the No. 3 team in the nation is hard enough on its own.
Doing it without your leading scorer and two-time All-American is even harder, as proved to be the case on Thursday night as the No. 9 Freed-Hardeman Lady Lions fell to the No. 3 Trevecca Nazarene (Tenn.) University Lady Trojans, 76-63.
Despite the absence of Jana Cross, who leads the team in scoring with 21.6 points per game, the Lady Lions carried a 36-32 lead into halftime fueled by freshman Hannah Parsley's 12 points in the first half. But as has been the case in two of FHU's previous three losses, the lead disappeared after halftime.
TNU went on a 16-4 run early in the second half to turn a 42-42 tie into a 58-46 lead with just under 11:00 to play. From there, the Lady Trojans were able to keep the short-handed Lady Lions at arm's length as FHU could not cut the Trevecca lead to single digits the rest of the game. Trevecca shot 50 percent in the second half compared to Freed's 32.1 percent.
Parsley and Tara Deatheridge each scored 14 points for the Lady Lions. Deatheridge also pulled in eight rebounds.
FHU, now 6-4 on the season, returns to action on Saturday at Cumberland (Tenn.) University at 2:00 PM.
